WOODLAND — Once again, tragedy has befallen the Choates.
The longtime Woodland family is mourning the death of Kelly Mason Choate, 53, who was fatally stabbed Saturday night during an altercation at Kenny’s Bar & Grill on East Street.
His death — which the suspect says resulted from an act of self-defense — comes nearly 29 years to the day after that of his twin brother, Barry Choate, whose 1986 Thanksgiving Day murder remains one of Woodland’s unsolved homicides.
“Their father has lost four sons,” Lisa Hulse, Kelly Choate’s ex-wife, said in a phone interview Monday. In addition to the twins, she said, two of their half-brothers have met untimely deaths, including one who passed away just a few months ago.
Kelly Choate would have turned 54 on Dec. 19.
Barry Mason Choate was a month shy of 25 when a man searching for recyclables on the morning of Nov. 27, 1986, found his body on First Street south of Main. He’d been shot twice in the jaw and neck by a killer who’s never been identified.
“We were almost inseparable,” Hulse said of Barry Choate, a close friend whose twin became her first boyfriend. They later married and had a daughter, Kasie, who has two young girls of her own.
“Kelly loved them dearly, and he was a very, very good fisherman,” Hulse said. “You name it, he got it — sturgeon, salmon, striper. The man could fish.”
According to Hulse, Choate had just wrapped up a day of fishing Saturday and was at the bar for only about 10 minutes before the trouble began.
Choate’s alleged killer, 55-year-old Jeffrey Lemus of Woodland, claims he was forced to defend himself that night after repeatedly being threatened by Choate over the past year and a half.
“I’ve just walked away, walked away, and this time it came to a head,” Lemus said during a nearly hourlong interview with The Enterprise on Monday at the Yolo County Jail, where he’s being held on suspicion of murder.
Lemus said he knew Choate by his first name only and isn’t quite sure how the ongoing dispute even got started, but says Choate once stole his bike and has since threatened to kill him.
“I’ve got witnesses,” Lemus, an electrician, said of the alleged threats. “I have nothing against the guy, but he just hated me.”
The deadly encounter — and Woodland’s first homicide in more than a year — occurred at about 8:45 p.m. Saturday at Kenny’s, a popular gathering spot whose website touts “strong drinks, awesome food, great people.”
“I was on my way out” when Choate arrived and started yelling at him, Lemus recalled. He said he made a detour to the bathroom, with the intent of fighting Choate outside afterward.
Lemus said as he headed toward the exit, Choate suddenly came at him from his left. He said he swung at Choate and missed, and Choate threw a punch that landed on his left eye.
“I was kind of dazed,” said Lemus, who believes that Choate was armed with a knife that night. “In my mind I’m thinking, if I don’t get him, he’s going to get me.”
Having pulled his own folding knife from his pocket, Lemus said he jabbed once at Choate, demonstrating the quick thrusting motion with his right hand. He saw Choate reel back, “and then I went out the door. I’m thinking he’s going to come out crazy.”
While Lemus recalled stabbing Choate in the lower abdomen area, Yolo County coroner’s officials say the single fatal wound pierced the victim’s left chest.
Police arrived on scene a short time later, but it wasn’t until he saw Choate being loaded into an ambulance that Lemus realized he was gravely injured, he said. He surrendered at the scene and was still being interviewed at the Woodland Police Department when investigators informed him that Choate had died at the UC Davis Medical Center.
Lemus remains on a no-bail hold at the jail while awaiting his Wednesday afternoon arraignment hearing. Also a father and grandfather, he believes his actions were justified.
“I don’t belong here,” Lemus said, noting his four years of service in the Marine Corps and his lack of a violent criminal history, which according to Yolo court records includes several DUI arrests and felony charges for failure to pay child support.
Choate’s rap sheet includes arrests for domestic violence, battery on a peace officer, vandalism and public intoxication, court records show.
“I’ve walked away plenty of times, and I should have done it again,” Lemus said. “But I literally had my back up against the wall. I just feel like my life was threatened.”
Hulse, however, feels differently.
“I don’t think it was Kelly’s fault,” she said, though she admits her knowledge of the incident comes second-hand from friends. “Anybody can get mad (if provoked). He was all right. The people that knew him loved him.”
Regardless of what happened, “he didn’t have to die,” Hulse said. “I know it was unnecessary, and my daughter is dying inside.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene